Images(2)

Quilt

PeriodCirca 1850

Place MadeFreehold, New Jersey, U.S.A.

MediumPrinted and sold cottons

Dimensions102 × 85.5 in. (259.1 × 217.2 cm)

ClassificationsQuilts and Coverlets

Credit LineGift of Alexander L. McClees, 1933

Object numberT1974.29

DescriptionA center medallion sampler style quilt of a wide variety of cotton prints in tones of red, brown, green, dark blue, golden yellow, multiple shades of brown, and white. 56 quilt blocks include both pieced and appliqued patterns such as "Rising Sun," "Oak Leaf and Reel," "Wild Goose Chase," "Wandering Foot," "Basket," "Feathered Star," "Lemoyne Star," "Kansas Sunflower," "Rolling PInwheel," "Flying Geese," "Peony," "Carpenter's Wheel," "Lend and Borrow," and "Chimney Sweep," along with smaller pieced strips to fill in as setting panels. The central blocks are surrounded with a wide border of alternating plain white cotton and printed cotton triangles, with corner blocks of "Sawtooth Star" variations. The quilt backing is plain white cotton with a thin cotton batting lining, and a fine plain white binding borders all edges.
Curatorial RemarksThe Conover Quilt is one of the finest examples of New Jersey quiltmaking in the Association's collection. Margaret Conover combined a variety of printed and solid fabrics as well as more than fifteen quilt patterns to create a lively, visually stunning textile. The bold triangle border helps to anchor the busy assortment of blocks, and Margaret's choice to place the complex Mariner's Compass block in the exact center of the quilt reveals her ability to balance such a mix of patterns and styles. The Association has several quilts that appear to have been made by mothers or grandmothers for their sons and grandsons on the occasion of their twenty-first birthdays.NotesMargaret Ely Craig was born in 1790, one of nine children of Daniel Craig (1755-1821) and Hannah Bowne (1763-1802). Daniel was a farmer and served as Sheriff of Monmouth County from 1808 to 1811. Margaret married Wykoff Conover (1783-1833) in 1812 and had nine children of her own.When she died in 1880 at the age of 90, Margaret had three living children, 18 grandchildren, and nine great grandchildren. Her obituary noted that she had been "highly respected and esteemed." Somehow, with such a busy life, Margaret found time for quilting. She created the medallion quilt in the early 1850s for her son James W. Conover, perhaps for his twenty-first birthday. James Conover enlisted in the 14th New Jersey Regiment in 1862, and served as Captain of Company D. He was wounded at the Battle of Monocacy on July 9, 1864 and died of his wounds on August 4, 1864. He and his wife, Martha Ellis Conover, had no children, and so the quilt apparently made its way to his sister, Hannah "Mary Ann" Conover McClees. The quilt descended to Hannah's son, Alexander, who donated it to the Historical Association in 1933.

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